Is Jaina Solo on Luke Skywalker's level as a Combatant?
By AmethystGravity 52 Comments
Well, seeing as how Star Wars opinions range all over the place on characters like Revan, Darth Plagueis, Darth Caedus, Darth Sidious, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Bane, and many other characters, I thought I'd throw in my two cents about where I feel Jaina Solo stands as a combatant.
I'm not arguing that she is as powerful as Luke or an equal of him, but I am arguing that her performance in combat is on his level, which in my opinion, puts her at least above the level of her brother, Darth Caedus.
ShootingNova's respect thread of Jaina is very thorough, though I shall put in my own thoughts on her showings and accolades.
First of all, some accolades:
"All Luke's team had to do was take out that shield generator.
On most days, that would have been an easy jobs for two Jedi Masters and Jaina Solo, who, as the Sword of the Jedi, had proven time and time again that she was the combat equal of anyone in the Order."
While this might or might not be Luke's personal opinion seems a bit unclear to me, seeing as how the preceding text refers to a general overview of the situation, with some of Luke's thoughts interspersed. However, I think it fits nicely with Jaina's performance against some of the best Sith Sabers on the potent nexus of Ziost:
Luke and Jaina were fighting back-to-back. The Sith attacking them had two advantages. One was the fact that they outnumbered the two Jedi. The second was that they were being reinforced by the emanations of the dark side nexus within the temple. It surged forth like psychic sewage, clogging the Jedi's reflexes as it fueled their enemies.
...
He felt Jaina in the Force, strong and calm, her back to him but not quite touching his. Bonded by blood and the Force itself, they performed a duet of death tot he half dozen Sith pressing in for the attack. They leapt and swung, ducked and kicked in such swift, perfect harmony that an observer might have thought their moves had been choreographed. More than once, an overly confident Saber charged, only to end up slashing at his fellow Sith. In short order two were on the ground, and the odds were now a mere two to one.
Luke could hear the sizzle of lightsabers clashing behind him, only centimeters away, and then the acrid stench of burned flesh and Jaina's blade struck home.
...
Lost in that piercing gaze, Ben heard, as if from a great distance, the sound of lightsabers being extinguished and he knew that his father and Jaina had won their fights.
Source: Fate of the Jedi: Ascension
Credit: ShootingNova
While Wollfmyth209 has suggested that the duo might have used Battle Meld, as they did against Yuuzhan Vong, I don't recall the text making note of that. Besides, Jaina being "the combat equal of anyone in the Order" fits with her fighting "in such swift, perfect harmony." She even takes out their third foe before Luke finishes the fourth, showing that her skill and force augmentation were at least on Luke's tier.
Besides, Troy Denning includes two passages that seem to highlight Jaina's ability:
"Maybe Luke had sensed the danger and forced the issue--or maybe he had been their true target all along. Perhaps they feared Luke Skywalker that much.
And that was a mistake.
Luke Skywalker was not the Sword of the Jedi. Jaina was, and now the Sith had trapped themselves inside a locked Temple with her."
"But Jaina also knew she could never last two and a half-minutes against the Keshiri woman--not anymore. Her entire body felt like it was burning from the inside out, and she was not at all sure her muscles would obey when the time came--as Luke kept ordering--to stand and fight. She thought she might last thirty seconds, maybe even a minute if the Force was with her. But two and a half minutes? In two and a half minutes she would be dead."
From Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse
While these are clearly from Jaina's point of view, I think two conflicting purposes for Denning to include them are evident: either to highlight Jaina's combative ability, or to portray her as an arrogant fighter. Seeing as how Jaina's humility with her assignment to Jedi Master was later highlighted, I doubt the latter is the case.
As for force power, again, while I don't think Jaina is as powerful as Luke, she still manages to eventually counterract Abeloth's force push here:
"Abeloth's hand flicked, and Jaina found herself tumbling down the duct backward. She saw the dark rectangle of a stack-head flash past beneath her; she slammed down and rolled twice before she could finally use the Force to bring herself to a stop. She came up on her knees, facing back the way she had come, and saw Abeloth leaping across the pit toward her."
From Star Wars: Fate of the Jedi: Apocalypse
Clearly, Jaina did little more than what Mace Windu did when Sidious nearly pushed him out the window, and obviously Abeloth was extremely hindered, with a lightsaber wound through the gut and her Pagorski aspect having been vaporized. However, seeing as how A: Jaina was suffering from various injuries and Force-based cell overload, B: the lightsaber wound didn't stop this Abeloth from incapacitating Luke with point-blank lightning and one-shot incapacitating Corran with lightning, and C: When Abeloth was injured from Mnemotherapy, she had been able to one-shot nuke a city of Sith, I think it's still a nice feat for Jaina.
Again, I don't claim to be an expert on Jaina or the lore, especially since I haven't read most of NJO, but I wanted to put my two cents out there!
Thanks for reading!
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